Nobody's Listening
by Katsuko1978
Summary: Post-Gluhen, after Episode 13 (spoilers). Ran isn't exactly dead. Farfarello isn't exactly insane. The author's take on what could have happened at the end of Gluhen.... NOTE: minor spoilers for the drama CDs
1. Begin at the End

Title: Nobody's Listening  
Author: Ryoko 03  
Series: post-Weiss Kreuz Gluhen  
Rating: R; may go to NC-17 depending upon my muses' whims  
Warnings: Yaoi, blood, death of certain characters that I have little to no love for (especially bitches who don't have the decency to STAY DEAD after they've been killed three times already….)  
Pairings: Well, I'm not going to spoil everything but as of right now the pairings are:

Mamoru/Nagi (for Angel-chan *pets*)  
Crawford/Schuldich (for my Eni-kun *kisses*)  
Yohji/Asuka (at least until I kill the bitch off for the fourth time….)  
Ran/surprise (nope, not gonna tell)  
Jei/Sally (mentioned in past tense… *very* past tense)

Started: August 13, 2003  
Status: In Progress 

Author's Notes: Well, on August 12 I finally sat down and watched Gluhen straight through. And although I'm sure there are some people out there who will disagree with me, I *hate* the ending. Yes, I know it's possible to bleed to death, especially if you insist on moving after you've been stabbed in the gut, but not everyone in a major city will heartlessly walk by someone who's collapsed on the sidewalk.

Therefore, I'm taking over. The story picks up from the last scene of Episode 13, right after Aya/Ran collapses and about the time the credits begin.

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Nobody's Listening  
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The world was getting fuzzier, greyer, slowly fading to darkness even as his life's blood flowed from the wound in his abdomen. He knew in the back of his mind that he should have asked for help the moment he felt the blade pierce his skin, but it seemed that everyone in this city was jaded; one less life wouldn't mean a thing to the men and women who he could hear moving past him.

Footsteps passing him faltered a moment; then came closer. Ran didn't even hold onto the tiniest sliver of hope; it was probably just a curious teenager who would pause briefly before moving along the sidewalk once more.

"Oi, you okay, man?" The voice was… almost familiar, the English lightly accented. A hand touched his shoulder and he could feel the man kneel next to him. Another hand skimmed over his skin, pausing as the blood covering his shirt.

"Hm, an amateur's effort. Would have been successful too if I hadn't happened by," the man said quietly, sounding almost amused. The hand on Ran's shoulder moved to his chin, carefully lifting his head to get a closer look at the wound.

The redhead's eyes flickered open briefly, not that it helped any; the world was fuzzier than before and starting to go black. In the darkness he could see two pinpoints of light, one slightly hidden by what may have been hair. He could hear a sharp intake of breath and a muttered curse:

"Oh, *fuck* me, it's a kitten."

Ran frowned in the darkness. Who in America would know about that? Schwarz and Weiss were both still in Jap—

Wait, no. There was one Schwarz unaccounted for….

"HEY! You with the fucking cell phone! Call an ambulance! NOW!"

Ran's voice was almost a whisper, barely audible: "farf'r'llo...?"

The other man gave no indication he heard: "I *said* call. A. Fucking, Ambulance. *Now*."

"Why should I? Who cares if some street trash dies?"

Even with darkness closing in, he could still detect movement an instant before the stranger with the cell phone was knocked to the ground and pinned by what he was now sure was a highly annoyed Irish ex-assassin.

"Because if you *don't* call an ambulance right now, you won't be needing the fucking phone because I'll slit your throat open and shove the damned thing in! CALL!"

The last things Ran heard for a while were the soft beeping indicating that 9-1-1 was being dialed and the now-calmer voice speaking quietly to him once more:

"Gomenasai, Weiss, but you aren't allowed to die today."

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Owari Part the First  
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Final Notes: My soundtrack for this portion of the fic consisted of the following: "Blue" from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack of the same name;  
"Happy Boys and Happy Girls" by Aqua;  
"Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne;  
"Breaking the Habit" by Linkin Park;  
"Nobody's Listening" also by Linkin Park;  
"The Anthem" by Good Charlotte;  
and "Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter. 

Yes, I have very eclectic musical tastes when I'm writing. It helps feed my muses =^__^=  



	2. The Truth about Dante

Title: Nobody's Listening  
Author: Ryoko 03  
Series: post-Weiss Kreuz Gluhen  
Rating: R; may go to NC-17 depending upon my muses' whims  
Status: In Progress 

All warnings and pairings noted in the previous chapter.

//blah// = thoughts  
~blah~ = telepathy (trust me, it'll come up *sweatdrop*)

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Nobody's Listening  
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The soft beeping of monitors was the first sound to greet Ran as he began to fight his way back to consciousness. His last real memory was the familiar-yet-not voice of the missing Schwarz assassin murmuring that he was not allowed to die and of hard concrete beneath him.

Now, as the beeping and the soft mattress beneath him attested, he was apparently in a hospital. Exactly which hospital was the unknown factor; Ran wasn't even positive he was still in New York. For all he knew, Farfarello might have had him shuttled off to an Este facility.

Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes slowly.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Ran turned his gaze towards the nurse who was tending to the monitors. She certainly *looked* like an ordinary nurse, nothing in her manner indicating that she worked for anyone other than the health care system. She offered him a bright smile and finished her notations, then placed the clipboard back on the end of the bed before turning her full attention to him.

"You had us worried for a while, Mr. Fujimiya. Your wound was rather severe, frankly we were surprised you made it here alive at all." She smiled again before adding, "It's a miracle you've recovered so well, in a few days' time you'll be able to go back home."

The redhead frowned slightly, glancing down at the bandages wrapped tightly around his midsection. He couldn't feel any stitches and wondered briefly if they'd used the self-dissolving type or if they'd had time while he was unconscious to remove them. In either case, it meant he'd been here already for at least a month. Which brought up his previous question:

"Where am I?"

The nurse didn't seem too surprised by the question: "La Guardia Hospital. We were the closest facility, and it's very lucky for you that your friend wasn't at all hesitant about using threats to ensure you arrived quickly and safely." She chuckled slightly; "Of course, Mr. Dante doesn't seem to be the conventional type. Not many men would threaten to slit someone's throat and shove a cell phone in if an ambulance isn't called immediately!"

Ran couldn't help but smile slightly, although it wasn't at the still-somewhat amusing thought that his enemy was responsible for his being alive. No, it was the name. Farfarello. Dante. It made since in a slightly twisted way: If you can't safely go by a name from literature any longer, go with the author's name instead.

"Has he been here?" he asked after a moment, one hand still resting lightly over his healing wound. It was both comforting and unnerving to think that a member of Schwarz could have been in the same room with him while he'd been helpless and slowly recovering.

"Oh yes, but not for a couple of days," the blonde nurse replied, her eyes taking on a bit of sadness. "The last time he stopped by, we had a young man jump from the sixth story." She sighed and rubbed at her eyes; obviously she was still affected by the suicide. "Such a gentle boy, too. He'd stopped in to visit, said he knew you from the church and wanted to see how you were recovering. Mr. Dante stepped out to talk with him for a few moments, and the next thing we knew he'd jumped out a window. Mr. Dante said the boy had expressed feelings of guilt over the incident and was on the ledge before he had a moment to wonder *why* such a young man would feel guilty over a senseless crime."

"I'm still asking m'self the same question."

Ran started slightly at the voice and looked towards the doorway, absently noticing that the nurse did likewise. While he hadn't really noticed more than the man's eyes before—twin pinpoints of light with one slightly hidden as darkness had settled around him—he could now clearly see the changes that the five years had had on Schwarz's resident psychopath.

Farfarello—no, apparently Dante now—leaned easily on the door, his arms crossed over his chest and his head tilted to one side. Both eyes were visible, catching the mid-afternoon light and appearing more golden than Ran had remembered. His hair, now a rusty shade of red rather than silver blonde, had been grown out past his shoulders and was currently tucked behind his ears. His numerous earrings had also gone by the wayside, his left ear only sporting one tiny gold hoop while two were visible in the right.

The other major change was, the scars were gone. Well, all but two small ones, the one crossing the bridge of his nose and the one on his bottom lip; both not truly notable and therefore easily overlooked by most people.

He stood up, moving into the room with all the feline grace the red-haired assassin remembered from his own dealings with Berserker. The nurse flashed him a sad little smile and rested a hand on his shoulder briefly, easily ignoring the fact that he was at least a good half-foot taller than her.

"I doubt we'll ever really know, Mr. Dante," she said, obviously trying to reassure the man. "But I'm sure you'd like to visit Mr. Fujimiya in private for a while, so I'll leave you to it. Remember, though," she added, voice becoming stern and professional for a moment, "visiting hours end at five today and it's already four-thirty. If I could make exceptions—"

"Aye, I know," the former assassin said quietly. "When have you ever known me to break that rule?"

The nurse smiled again, stepping towards the door. As she left she murmured, "I still can't get the thought of that boy out of my mind..." Farfarello nodded in agreement with the woman, his soft smile turning into a smirk after she'd left the room.

"Of course, the little fuck had *some* help going out that window."

Ran couldn't help but roll his eyes at the comment; apparently some things *never* changed.

"Any particular reason for that decision?" he asked evenly. "Or was it just a whim on the spur of the moment, Farfarello?"

"Jei," was the first instantaneous reply to the question before being followed by another smirk. "And I think that pushing the assassin trying to get a second chance at you out a window was a valid enough reason, don't you?"

The natural redhead blinked, the image of a young teen running into him on the street coming to mind and he rested his hand lightly over his newly-aching wound. He had barely gotten a glimpse of the boy himself; how the hell had Farf—Jei recognized his would-be killer on sight?

"How—"

"Ever heard of psychometry?"

Ran frowned slightly, the term unfamiliar to him. He'd known that most Este agents had psychic talents, with the man before him apparently being the one exception. He knew about telepathy, telekinesis and precognition only because those were the talents Schwarz expressed easily and therefore needed to be studied enough for the men of Weiss to know just what they were dealing with. Nothing in their experience had suggested a need to know about any other psi talents, although the knowledge would have come in handy against Rosenkruez.

"Iie."

Jei ran a hand through his hair (Ran noticed absently that the other man was wearing gloves even though the room was fairly warm) and pulled a chair over next to the bed. He somehow managed to drape himself gracefully into said chair without effort and took a breath before explaining:

"Psychometry is a psychic skill that involves the handling of objects in order to pick up information about that object's history or the events or emotions of people connected with that object. That's the dictionary definition, pretty damned dry and boring if you ask me. And it doesn't explain at *all* how it can affect one who isn't trained or is inadequately trained.

"Most normal humans can pick up psychometric impressions on a basic level, feeling more of a déjà vu sensation than actually picking up useful information. But there are actually few true psychometrics that possess the skill at an unusually high degree of sensitivity. They're able to pick up impressions simply by touching an object and being able to tell you about the individual who owned it as well as what happened to them."

He smiled and shrugged casually: "In a sense, it's a delicate combination of clairvoyance and telepathy taken to the next level."

Ran sat quietly, absorbing the information and filing it in his mind to review after his 'guest' had left for the day. He nodded slightly after a moment, still not quite understanding *what* psychometry had to do with Jei's ability to pick a killer out of an entire city.

At the silent nod, the Irishman continued: "Did you know that most Este agents displayed their talents at very young ages? Schuldich, Crawford, Nagi... they all displayed their talents around the age of five, although Braddy was actually seven when he had his first true vision."

"No, I didn't know that."

"Imagine being five years old and in the same moment you find your family killed before your eyes, you attempt to save yourself only to find out that the woman wielding the knife has no qualms about killing you and had, in fact, used that same knife to murder dozens of people for a German organization that you never would have dreamed existed." Jei was looking down at his gloved hands, and therefore didn't notice violet eyes widening at the third account of what happened to the Irish assassin's family.

"Imagine your skin being so damned *psi-sensitive* to *everything* that you can't even brush your bare skin against a person, a wall, a jacket without picking up lingering psychic impressions of everyone who'd ever come into contact with it and seeing every aspect of their lives play out in your mind. Imagine being told you were suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and not knowing that it meant you would spend the rest of your young life locked away. Imagine the relief you felt at the knowledge that, so long as you were locked in a fucking *straightjacket*, no one and nothing could touch your bare skin and you were safe from the visions that were driving you insane."

Amber eyes lifted, hard despite a sense of bitter despair skimming just below the surface: "If you can imagine that, then you know what I lived with for eleven years of my life."

Neither man spoke, the silence stretching uncomfortably between them. Ran was mentally doing the math in his head, frowning slightly as he came to an age that didn't truly make sense with everything he thought he knew about the other man. Tiring of the silence, he spoke:

"So what happened when you were sixteen?"

Jei smiled slightly, slouching in his chair again. "I was fifteen when I was removed from the asylum by Este. It was around that time that I started to block pain. Apparently on top of being a psychometric I was—and still am—a low-level biokinetic. Only damned thing it's good for is blocking pain, really, but it was *that* that caught Este's attention; apparently psychometry wasn't that important when compared with other psi talents out there.

"I was trained briefly, during which time they realized I was also an animal psi—that means I display characteristic of a certain animal, in my case those of a big cat—then I was sent to join Crawford, Schuldich and Nagi on my sixteenth birthday."

In all honesty, the redhead wasn't all that surprised at the revelation of Jei's third talent; he'd always been of the opinion that the man moved like a cat. The biokinesis also made sense, and he gave a slight nod to indicate that he was still following. All the information that needed mulled over was still being mentally filed; he would have all night to review it and reassess his opinion of Schwarz's 'missing' assassin.

"I was the fourth and last member," Jei continued, shrugging slightly. "Oracle had found Prodigy on the streets and brought him in without any additional training; I think I was selected to remind them *not* to go over Este's head in the matters of selecting agents. Whatever the reasoning, I was accepted without question although Schu seemed to find it entertaining to try to get into my head as often as possible. I quickly learned to throw up a mental shield if only to keep them from finding out just *what* it was that made me dangerous.

"I think Braddy figured it out first." The amber-eyed man paused, glancing at his watch to make sure there was still enough time left for him to finish, then nodded slightly before proceeding: "I was able to keep from touching much of anything for months, and able to hide my reaction when I *did* come into contact with something with rather negative impressions left upon it. One night six months after being sent to Schwarz, however, I had to press against the wall of the building we were staying in to keep from running into Nagi on the stairs and picked up the impression of a man being tortured and murdered in the hallway. It wasn't pretty, and I couldn't hide my reaction.

"I was still screaming when Schu tried to get the straightjacket on me, which was a big mistake. It was a different jacket, one that they'd picked up from another asylum after being advised that it would be a good idea to keep one handy. Unfortunately, the girl who'd worn it before me was tortured and raped on a daily basis by the guards, and that was imprinted fairly deep into the material. It just set me off more and I lashed out against my teammates for the first—and only—time."

Jei stretched slightly, turning his gaze towards the window. Ran took the opportunity to size up the other man. He appeared to be comfortable, dressed in blue jeans, motorcycle boots and an unzipped black leather jacket. Beneath the jacket he was wearing a navy blue shirt, but it was difficult to tell if it was sort or long sleeved. And of course there were the black gloves, which made more sense to the former Weiss assassin in light of Jei's talent. It was probably the easiest way to ensure that he *didn't* accidentally pick up psychic impressions from everything he might come in contact with.

Jei took another breath and continued after another minute or two: "Brad, for some reason, wasn't wearing a suit that day. Instead he was in jeans and a sweater, both brand new as he'd bought them the day before. Personally, I think he had a vision of some sort that spurred him to buy them. He never really said. Anyway, he came in the room just as I was about to slash at Schu again with my fingernails. He glanced at the jacket, swore under his breath—did you know Crawford can swear in five different languages? No? He can—and rather than pull a gun he grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms down. And since there was nothing of death or torture or anything aside from newness clinging to his clothing, I calmed down almost instantly. I could hear Brad calling the Elders fifty kinds of fool and him ordering Schu and Nagi to go and buy a *new* straightjacket immediately, but that's about all I can recall because I fell asleep."

He smiled and shrugged, "I was calm again, and I wasn't picking up anything negative. I could let down my guard. The next morning when I woke Schu began training me to build mental barriers. After a couple of months I could touch objects and throw up a wall before any negative impressions had time to saturate my thought process. Nagi walked on eggshells around me for a while, but once he realized that I wasn't going to attack any of them again he took it upon himself to keep Este from finding out that they had let an extremely sensitive psychometric slip through their fingers. I don't think they *ever* realized the truth until I was twenty-one."

"What happened then?" Ran asked, curiosity getting to him as he wondered idly just how much control Jei actually had over his talents.

The Irishman shook his head slightly, tapping his watch. "Time's up for today, kitty. I'll tell you tomorrow... that is, if you want me to visit?"

//I must be losing my mind,// Ran thought to himself even as he nodded slightly. "I'd like that. No one else knows where I am."

Jei smiled slightly and stood to leave. As he reached the door, he glanced over his shoulder. "By the way, you may want to tell the nurse to change your visitation list when she comes back."

"Hm? Why?"

"Because…" Jei ran his fingers through his hair, brushing his bangs back before continuing, "there's still one assassin out there. And he'll definitely try to finish what he started."

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Owari Part the Second  
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End Notes: Thanks to Sycopantha for the hospital ref (and also for being my first FF.net reviewer =^__^=) More is on the way soon as I get a day away from work to concentrate on the narrative.  



	3. Meanwhile, Back in Japan

Title: Nobody's Listening  
Author: Ryoko 03  
Series: post-Weiss Kreuz Gluhen  
Rating: R; may go to NC-17 depending upon my muses' whims  
Status: In Progress 

All warnings and pairings noted in the previous chapter.

//blah// = thoughts  
~blah~ = telepathy (trust me, it'll come up *sweatdrop*)

Notes: This chapter is dedicated to Angel-chan—your favorite boys make their first appearance.

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Nobody's Listening  
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It had been over a month since The Call came in from the sleeper agent he'd sent stateside, ordered to keep an eye on the undertakings of Kritiker New York. Several agents, unhappy with having a Persia younger than themselves, had spurned talk of defecting to what was left of Este; Tortoiseshell had experience with Este having escaped their control not once but twice and was the best agent to send in hopes of discouraging the malcontents.

Takatori Mamoru could still hear the annoyance coloring the Irish-accented Japanese: "I thought you said all the fucking Kritiker Japan malcontents had been dealt with?!"

After Jei had calmed enough that he wasn't swearing at his boss in Gaelic every ten seconds—something he had actually done to Crawford numerous times in the past when annoyed—he had told Mamoru about Abyssinian's presence in New York as well as his current status. He'd also mentioned that he *knew* the assassins were ex-Kritiker because he'd neglected to wear his gloves that day and had brushed against the knife when he'd returned to Abyssinian's side.

Despite the fact that the Irish sleeper agent had called in at least once a week with an update on Aya-kun's condition as well as the call three days ago stating that Sphinx was no longer a problem, Mamoru was concerned. None of the calls gave any indication that the redhead was approaching consciousness, nor had Tortoiseshell had any luck in tracking down Siamese.

The phone's ring drew him out of his thoughts, and Mamoru glanced towards the door as Nagi passed to answer it. Although Jei Dante was the first of Schwarz to join Kritiker, he wasn't the last. The telekinetic had arrived two years ago, just a year after his former team mate, and had slowly become friends with his former enemy. It took about six months for the relationship to progress into something more, and only three months ago Nagi had moved in with him.

"Moshi-moshi," the younger man answered, his voice carrying through the open door. "Oh, hey, Jei.... Hai, he's here.... JEI! That was just wrong!" A moment later Nagi walked in and handed Mamoru the cordless. "Tortie's on the line for you."

"Tell him to stop calling me Tortie," was the first thing out of Jei's mouth when Mamoru answered. "It's almost as annoying as when he used to call me Farfie all the damn time."

"You know you don't mind," the former Weiss assassin replied, shutting down the computer and leaning back in his chair. "Did something come up?"

"Guess who woke up today."

"Aya-kun's awake?" Mamoru sat up straight again, vaguely aware of Nagi's gaze. "Did you get a chance to talk to him?" The young Kritiker leader was aware of the fact that none of Weiss was aware of the former Schwarz assassin's presence within the organization, and was uncertain of how the redhead would react to the news.

Jei's voice grew a bit quieter, as if he were in a public place and didn't want the wrong ears to overhear: "A little. I didn't get to tell him about Sally yet."

The cerulean-eyed man nodded slightly, knowing that that particular part of Jei's story took some time to tell... especially since his experience with her had made him incredibly distrustful of women in general and those with psi-talents in particular.

"Anyway, I thought you might want to know," the Irishman continued after a moment. "That, and I saw Siamese this afternoon."

Mamoru stiffened slightly, eyes hardening. Since Tortoiseshell had told him which former agents were behind the attack, he'd been trying to follow their movements. "Where?" he fairly snarled, his lover's hand on his shoulder the only thing keeping him from jumping up and making arrangements to get on the first flight to New York.

"La Guardia Hospital, as I was leaving Abyssinian's room. I advised him to change his visitor's list, and that nurse Kritiker New York provided called an hour ago to tell me that she was keeping an eye on Siamese's movements inside the hospital." He chuckled softly, "She still doesn't realize that Sphinx's death was no suicide."

"Keep me posted," Mamoru said, reaching up to twine his fingers with Nagi's. "If you see an opportunity, take it. And remember to—"

"Make it look like an accident," Jei finished. "Trust me, no one will know Kritiker Japan was involved. I have to go now; I'm going to do a bit of recon on the hospital tonight. I'll call in a couple days, Ran is supposed to be released then. Ja ne."

"Bai, Jei," the other man murmured, hanging up before turning to offer Nagi a small smile. "Well, that's one less worry for me anyway."

"You worry too much," the telekinetic scolded lightly, pulling Mamoru's chair away from the desk and draping himself in the older man's lap. "But I understand why. Hell, I worried for three years that Este was going to realize Tortie was a psychometric and take him away from us...."

Mamoru wrapped his arms around his lover and closed his eyes, a soft sigh escaping him. "I know. And even though they did find out, he got out. I don't think you have to worry about your oniisan anymore."

Nagi didn't answer, just wrapped his arms around Mamoru's neck and rested his head on the older man's shoulders. A comfortable silence fell between them, and by the time they finally ventured off to bed neither was thinking too much about the situation in New York.

They had plenty of time in the morning for that.

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Owari Part the Third  
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End Notes: As you can probably tell from the chapter, Jei is still an assassin although now he collects his paychecks from Kritiker. I just chose Tortoiseshell out of the blue for his code name, seeing as he's now a redhead and his uniform (when I get around to describing it) is all black. The other two, Sphinx and Siamese, are my take on the pair who were lying in wait for Ran towards the end of WKG 13.

Oh, and for those who may have missed it, the nurse from Chapter Two is a Kritiker agent.  



	4. Tortoiseshell, Himalaya and Siamese

Title: Nobody's Listening  
Author: Ryoko 03  
Series: post-Weiss Kreuz Gluhen  
Rating: R; may go to NC-17 depending upon my muses' whims  
Status: In Progress 

All warnings and pairings noted in the previous chapter.

//blah// = thoughts  
~blah~ = telepathy (trust me, it'll come up *sweatdrop*)

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~  
Nobody's Listening  
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This time when Ran awoke, it wasn't the sound of the monitors that first drew his attention; what actually woke him from his slumber were the sounds of a scuffle in the hall outside his room.

His trained ear could pick up the heavy breathing of the two—possibly three—people involved, amidst the sound of blades clashing and what he was certain was a soft yelp of pain. Wincing slightly, Ran threw the covers back and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Another soft yelp sounded, this time followed by the distinctive wet slice of steel sliding across flesh and a grunt of pain. Having arrived at the door, Ran opened it slightly and peered out, violet eyes widening slightly at the scene laid out before him.

At one end of the hall were four people clad in outfits similar to Weiss mission gear. Behind them he could see a few members of the hospital staff looking on in shock. About five feet down from his door stood a dark-haired man with bronzed skin, dressed in a trench coat, black slacks and a white button-down shirt, right hand wrapped around the hilt of a sharpened fencing foil and the other press to his shoulder. Blood seeped between his fingers, silent testimony to how deep his opponent had managed to slice.

Almost directly in front of his door stood the nurse who'd spoken with him throughout the day... only now she didn't *look* so much like a neutral party. Now the relatively short blond was clad in a gold leather duster, boot cut blue jeans, a lavender shirt and what appeared to be combat boots. One hand was pressed lightly against her midsection, a faint trickle of red staining her shirt. He could see no visible weapons, but he caught sight of a holster slung low on her waist beneath the duster.

And directly in front of the door, as calmly as if fighting in a hospital was an everyday occurrence, was Jei.

The former Schwarz assassin was clad head to toe in black. His hair was held back by a black bandana, a few stray strands framing his face and making him look just a touch more feminine than normal. The ends of said bandana held the longer sections of hair back in a ponytail. He wore a tight cropped tank top, unmindful that his midsection was exposed and vulnerable to attack, as the still oozing marks on his skin attested. His arms were encased to the elbow in fingerless gloves, an armlet containing dozens of sharp needles around his upper right arm. Leather jeans and motorcycle boots completed the look, as did the knife holsters wrapped around each thigh.

"Who the fuck *are* you?" the wound man facing Jei and the woman snarled, eyes burning in fury at being kept from his goal. Rather than answer, however, the Irish assassin calmly lifted the retractable blade in his hand—the same blade he'd used in the battle against Abyssinian himself years before—and ran his tongue across the steel.

//Nope,// the Weiss redhead thought, a slight smirk crossing his lips in spite of the situation, //some things never change.//

"Ye're a very bitter man, Siamese," Jei said evenly, his accent thicker than before in the heat of battle. "I coulda told ye that wi'out a taste or touch."

Siamese smirked slightly, teeth gritted still in pain. "I know who you are now," he hissed. "Persia's pet psycho. Didn't recognize you without the scars, freak. Why the change?" A short bark of laughter. "The little boy in charge decide he wanted prettier fare to warm his bed?"

Ran glanced over at Jei, whose eyes had taken on the feral quality he knew well from repeated encounters with Schwarz. His own eyes narrowed slightly; he too recognized Siamese for who he was, the man's mocking and defiance of Mamoru still fresh in his mind. If he'd had his katana at that moment, he would have joined the other redhead in the hallway.

"Still," Siamese sneered, "I don't know why the kid would send his pet out. After all, you're Schwarz. A leopard doesn't change his spots, neither does a gaijin dog."

"Get the civilians out NOW!"

That was the only warning before Jei darted forward, left hand grasping and releasing the needles so fast Ran couldn't be sure he'd seen the movement. At the same time he brought his blade up to strike at Siamese again.

"Tortoiseshell!" the blonde cried out, reaching into her duster and drawing her gun. Behind her the other Kritiker agents were already herding the staff towards safety.

Blades flashed in the fluorescent light as the two opponents fought for a dominant position, neither giving an inch. The blonde kept her gun leveled on the two, waiting for a clean shot at the Japanese ex-Kritiker agent. From Ran's vantage point, he could tell that the shot was impossible.

He could also see that the Irishman was losing ground.

Thinking quickly, the redhead gripped the doorknob, keeping his eyes on the combatants as they neared the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the blonde take a few steps back as the blades came dangerously close to striking her. His grip tightened on the knob; he didn't know why his door opened into the hall instead of swinging into his room, but he decided to use it to his advantage.

Tortoiseshell's amber eyes swept towards him for a brief instant; then the Irish assassin leapt backward from the Japanese.

Siamese didn't have time to press his advantage; the second Jei backed off Ran slammed the door open, catching the man off guard and knocking him backward. The blonde saw the opportunity for what it was and fired, the silencer muffling the sound. She emptied her clip before lowering the weapon, then turned towards Ran.

"Sorry," she murmured, an apologetic smile on her face. "None of us expected him to make a move tonight. It's just pure luck that we were all here."

Jei snorted. "Sh'yeah, lass, and the order from Manx had nothin' t'do wi' ye and the rest o' ye team being here, eh, Himalaya?"

Himalaya rolled her eyes and lightly punched the man's arm. "Well, there *is* that. But then again, weren't you told to make it look like an accident?"

"Sphinx's *did* look like an accident... or rather a suicide."

The blonde blinked, then her eyes narrowed. "Not fair. You were keeping secrets, Tortoiseshell."

"Need to know basis, lass," Jei replied with a smile. "You didn't need to know." Himalaya opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, then hmphed and turned to walk towards her team, already calling out orders.

The Irishman smiled and shook his head, then turned to Ran. "You alright?"

For a moment, the redhead wondered why Jei was asking after his health when *he* was the one bleeding. A sharp ache in his wound reminded him of why he was still in the hospital in the first place. Placing one hand over his bandages he nodded slightly, violet gaze on the uncovered and marred skin of the other man's midsection.

He caught his breath as a stray though flit through his mind: //He's hot in that outfit.//

"Still, you should get back to bed," Jei said, lightly grasping Ran's arm and turning him back towards his room. Ran shivered internally for some reason over the touch and was *very* glad Jei's abilities didn't include straight telepathy.

Rather than think about *why* he was thinking of the other man in a non-professional sense, he countered, "You should get those looked at. They look pretty deep."

Amber eyes flicked down to his own skin, taking in the damage for the first time. "Hmph. Disadvantage to blocking pain; sometimes I don't realize I'm injured until I pass out from blood loss." Getting Ran to the bed, he gently pushed the redhead back and offered a small smile. "Get some rest. We can talk in the morning."

That said, the Irish assassin waved slightly, nearly purring "Ja ne" before closing the door behind him and heading off to get his wounds cleaned and stitched up.

Ran sighed and stared up at the ceiling. //Where did *that* some from? True, Jei—I can't believe *he's* this Tortoiseshell Persia mentioned a while back—looked good, but why am I thinking like this?// He shook his head and closed his eyes. //I've never really thought of *anyone* like this.//

~Not true, kitten, you're just denying it.~

Violet eyes snapped open and glanced around. The door was open again, and he could make out someone in the doorway. Before he could open his mouth, he suddenly felt very tired. As his eyes drifted closed again, his last thought was:

//Schuldich...?//

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Owari Part the Fourth  
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Regarding Jei's assassin look: if you go to http// you can see the manipulated image I'm working from. And yes, I played around with it in PhotoShop to get the look I wanted (believe it or not, Jei's look is the third one I did; anyone wanting to see my other two options email me and I'll send you a link to them).

And yes, Manx got a promotion. Figured why not get her mentioned too since she was Miss Invisible in Gluhen....


	5. More Truths Revealed

Title: Nobody's Listening  
Author: Ryoko 03  
Series: post-Weiss Kreuz Gluhen  
Rating: R; may go to NC-17 depending upon my muses' whims  
Status: In Progress 

All warnings and pairings noted in the previous chapter.

//blah// = thoughts  
~blah~ = telepathy (trust me, it'll come up *sweatdrop*)

Note: Just a couple words used in this chapter with their definitions:  
deartháir -- brother (Irish Gaelic)  
bruder -- brother (German)

Also, thanks to Angel-chan for the loan of Sin. After some flirting and acting, Kara and Nai both got off their asses and helped get this chapter done.

(This chapter contains minor spoilers for the Schwarz drama CDs, proceed with caution.)

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Nobody's Listening  
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"You're an ass."

"Ah, you say the sweetest things, bruder."

"...fuck you, Schuldich."

Ran winced slightly and opened his eyes, drawn out of his dreamless slumber by the brief argument. He turned his head slightly to one side, silently taking in the sight of the Schwarz assassins. The telepath leaned against the wall, a slight smirk on his lips as he taunted his friend again:

"You kiss your girlfriend with that mouth?"

"Do. Not. Mention. That. Whore. In my presence."

The tone startled both natural redheads, causing the one in bed to pull himself into a seated position with a slight groan and the one against the wall to stiffen slightly. Jei turned his gaze towards the bed, amber eyes hard and still containing that hint of sorrow that Ran had noticed that first day he awoke in La Guardia.

"Farf..." the German started, reaching towards the younger psion. Jei took a step backward, turning his body in a manner that fairly screamed 'don't touch me.'

"Farfarello's dead," he said, voice dispassionate. "The malefici bitch killed him three years ago."

"When Este found out." Schuldich now turned to give Ran a look; the Japanese assassin paid him no mind, instead watching Jei's reaction. "You told me Este found out about your psychometry when you were twenty-one. Three years ago, ne?"

The telepath looked from Ran to Jei: "I *told* you not to trust her! She turned you in, didn't she?!"

"Shut up, Schuldich."

Blue-green eyes blinked twice, a bit startled that both men had spoken almost as one. It was... hell, honestly it was amusing. He could easily read the Weiss assassin's thoughts, knew a secret desire that the violet-eyed man wasn't even aware of. And from his observations of his former comrade-in-arms, he could see the changes.

The Cat, as he'd always privately called the Irishman's ani psi self, was poised and in control; it was always The Cat that took on missions and got Jei in and out of potentially fatal situations time and again back in the days when Schwarz was four and no one could tear their family apart. Hell, The Cat was present in the way Jei interacted with Ran.

Why, Schuldich intended to find out later. Right now, though....

"Okay, I know when to keep my mouth shut," he huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall again. He noted that his 'little brother' was still clad in his mission gear, only he'd pulled on a lab coat one of the staff doctors had offered after stitching up the nasty gashes he'd gained in the fight with Siamese.*

Jei sighed quietly and sank into the single chair in the room, this time being very careful not to pull his stitches as he moved. He tilted his head back, amber eyes sliding closed and a soft sigh slipping past his lips. For a moment he was silent.

"Well, I suppose it's easier to relate once," he finally said quietly, "rather than tell Ran now and then tell deartháir later. You might want to both get comfortable; it may take some time in the telling as it's difficult for me to even think about."

Ran frowned slightly; since sinking into the chair Jei had yet to open his eyes once. For some reason, the redhead was... hurt by that action. In just a short amount of time he'd become accustomed to seeing the other man's eyes and reading the truth in them even as it was spoken aloud. Without thinking about what he was doing, Ran reached out and lightly rested his hand on the Irishman's.

//Interesting,// Schuldich mused to himself as Jei opened his eyes and offered a tiny smile to the man in the bed. //Perhaps I need to take a little glimpse into Farfie's mind as well....//

Jei straightened up a bit, unconsciously twining his fingers with Ran's as he took a deep breath and began to speak: "Her name was Sally. Sally Schumars. She was... ah, she was something special, at least I thought so when I was nineteen. She was in Este, but wanted out... hell, she ran from Rosenkruez with little more than the clothes on her back.

"I could go into all the boring details"—at this Schu chuckled softly and shook his head; trust Jei to call that encounter with Farblos 'boring'—"but let's just suffice it to say that in the aftermath, I left Schwarz. I thought Sally was the one I'd been waiting for, the one The Cat had been waiting for in silence. Hell, when I touched her I could see everything about her... and it didn't overwhelm me even for a moment."

The Irishman paused for a moment, tilting his head back to smile bitterly up at the ceiling: "She was malefici, a psychic witch. A touch of telepathy, a touch of empathy, and a lot of uncertainty all bundled up into a petite blonde-haired brown-eyed woman. Oh, but I thought I was so in love with her. I understand now that I should have treaded more carefully rather than jumping into anything, but that's one of those lessons you have to learn on your own I suppose.

"Anyway, we left Germany, went to Ireland. I had wanted to go 'home' for a while but never said anything; I knew it was safest for me to be around those who could protect my secrets but like I said, I was nineteen. I thought I knew everything... thought I could trust Sally. After all, I loved her and didn't want there to be any secrets between us.

"We'd been living in Crawforsburn for a little over a year when I noticed that something had changed." Jei paused, a frown marring his features and his eyes flicking over to where Ran's fingers were tangled with his own. The redhead followed his gaze, blinking slowly as if he hadn't noticed the change before giving the other man's hand a slight squeeze.

Schuldich couldn't help the smirk that crossed his lips at that display; neither of the younger men seemed to realize that the same thoughts were lingering in the other's mind. Of course, the German wasn't about to tell them that. It was going to be far more entertaining to watch them stumble through on their own.

"At first I ignored it," the Irishman said after a moment, "chalked it up to growing up a little bit and getting more comfortable with one another. But that didn't explain why she was staying later hours at the small shop where she'd gotten a job. It didn't explain why she waited to come to bed till she thought I was asleep. And it sure as hell didn't explain why The Cat grew agitated in her presence.

"So I confronted her about it. She told me, 'The tourist season is a bit heavier than last year, Farfarello. I've been helping with inventory, and I didn't want to disturb you. I know with your talents you could pick up on my anxiety. I could never do that to you.' And even though The Cat was bristling, I accepted her explanation." Jei paused in his narrative again, turning amber eyes to the wall and seeming to look through it as if it were a window to the past. For a brief instant it seemed as if he truly was in the past, listening to Sally's voice as she made her excuses.

"I accepted that explanation until I realized that she was blocking me. That's the plus side of life with a 'path; a psychometric doesn't have to worry about throwing up a wall if the telepath is strong enough to keep anything in his life that could cripple the other hidden behind his own barriers. Sally was never really that strong; I could touch her without being floored, like I said before, but all of a sudden there were more walls, more blocks keeping me away from *something*. For months I let it slide, until finally my curiosity got the better of me."

"What did you do?" Ran asked after another long pause, frowning as Jei's gaze slid over to the wall once again. He could tell this was a painful tale for the other man to tell, but for some reason he *wanted* to know what had happened that could have sent the former Berserker running to Kritiker. Farfarello had fascinated him since that first battle between them five years before; as Jei he was a mystery that Ran wanted to solve.

Schu smirked and answered for his friend: "No doubt he went through her things until his psychometry kicked in and told him what the fuck was going on with the little bitch."

"Got it in one."

The older two men turned their full attention on the youngest as he offered up a bitter smile. "There was one necklace that she wore most of the time. That was the sixth thing I touched of hers, and the one that gave up the information that she'd been hiding from me. It was just *such* a thrill to find out on my twenty-first birthday that my lover of two years had been plotting to return to Este, the price of her re-admittance being me.

"I decided to make a run for it. I grabbed a bag, threw in a few changes of clothes and all my blades, and headed out of Crawforsburn. Unfortunately, Este's 'path caught up with me about five miles later. He shut down my motor skills and knocked me out before I had time to even unzip my bag. Next thing I knew I was waking up back in Rosenkruez's 'care,' my blades confiscated somewhere in the building and half a dozen of their scientists eager to test my skills."

The Irishman gently pulled his hand from Ran's grasp and stood up, crossing over to the window and peering out: "For three months I didn't even see the sun. They kept me in a room deep in the heart of the building, with no windows and only one way in or out. I was a prisoner, an experiment. The only time I was left out was for testing, which I purposely fucked up so I could plan and plot my escape.

"I was about ready to give up hope and give in when they did the stupidest fucking thing. Wanna know what they did?" Jei turned his head and smirked over his shoulder. "They decided to do 'physical testing.'"

Schuldich blinked. "You mean, sit down with you in a room, hand you other people's discarded junk and see what you could tell them about said people? I'm not sure I follow, but *how* was that a mistake on their part? It's basic testing for psychometrics."

"True," the younger man conceded, still smirking, "but how many times does that test include weaponry?"

Not for the first time since Jei moved, Ran wished he currently had the strength to get out of bed and go over to join the ex-Schwarz assassin at the window. "They were stupid enough to hand you a knife?!"

"Oh, but not just *any* knife. Think for a moment, kitty: the first day we spoke, I told you that I grabbed the knife when my *true* parents and sister were murdered. I read a hell of a lot in that first burst of power, and there's no way in hell I could ever forget that particular blade.

"The stupid fuckers handed me my mother's knife. I knew it was the same blade before my fingers ever touched it; I have a constant reminder of it right here"—he pulled off his right glove and turned his hand palm-out towards the other two men in the room, revealing a jagged scar amongst the natural lines—"and I can still see Ruth's face as she killed dozens of times over for Este.

"Still, I took it from the morons and told them *everything* I saw when I held it... then I shoved it into each of their throats. Messy, yes, but effective. At that point my main goal was to get out of the heart of the building, and if I had to kill every damned man and woman inside then so be it." Jei pulled his glove back on, staring at the cloth for a moment before dropping his hand to his side and walking back over to the chair. Sinking into the chair once more, he closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands.

"The malefici was the last person I found in the compound. She had tried to escape when one of the 'paths I sliced sent out a mental scream before I shut him up for good; unfortunately for her the compound was much like my cell and only had one way out. All I had to do was sit at the entrance and wait for her to come to me.

"Oh, Sally tried to talk her way out of everything, saying that she had no choice, that Este was going to kill us both if she hadn't caved in and handed me over. Three months before I probably would have believed her and forgiven her, but she killed my trust. I already had... issues with women thanks to Ruth, but that fucking psi witch killed any remaining trust I may have held for the fairer sex. I think I caught her off guard when I wrapped my hand around her throat and slammed her into the wall; her mental shields failed and I could read *everything* from her.

"She lied to me; she *wanted* back in Este, life on the outside was just too much for her to handle and so she made a deal with the devil so to speak. Sally could return to Este as a subordinate if she handed me over; she could become a higher up if she went through the right channels." Amber eyes narrowed, rage over his former lover's betrayal clearly visible. "The little whore fucked her way to the top of the ladder. *She* was the one who ordered my testing.

"I took *great* pleasure in ending her life. I held her in place by the throat and used Ruth's knife to leave shallow cuts all over her body. Not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to bleed for a *long* time. And when there was no more skin to cut, I snapped her neck. Then I went back inside, found my blades and enough cash to buy a plane ticket, and left Austria forever.

"The next day I was in Japan, sitting in Persia's office and telling him everything I just told you two." Jei smirked slightly, shaking his head. "All I can really say is Takatori Mamoru knows the right words to say. Within an hour of setting foot in the building I was on Kritiker's payroll and being scheduled for surgery to fix my eye and get rid of a few scars so I could be a bit more anonymous."

Schuldich shook his head slightly. "Fuck, and I was going to bitch at you about not showing up when everything went down a couple months back."

"You mean Epitaph and Class Z?" the Irishman said, sitting up straight and stretching carefully. "I heard all about it from Persia, and was *strictly* ordered to remain in New York. I don't think Mamo-kun wanted me anywhere near Rosenkruez or Este. There are probably standing orders to kill me on sight. Hell, the only reason I knew everything had been taken care of was when I found Sleeping Beauty here on the street with a knife sticking out of his gut."

Ran scowled slightly, hoping desperately that the other two wouldn't notice his face reddening slightly (Schuldich, however, *did* notice). Rather than remark, though, he turned his gaze to Jei: "Did you get any sleep?"

The fair-skinned assassin blinked at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted wings. "No, I was a little too busy fighting Siamese and then getting stitched up to catch a nap."

"Then he came in here and stared at the wall until I decided to annoy him," the German added helpfully; he was greatly amused by the new flow of the conversation. //Maybe I don't have to look too deep into their minds after all... everything's *right* on the surface!//

Ran's scowl deepened: "There's another bed. Go to sleep."

"What are you now, my father?"

"A concerned friend. Get your ass in bed and go to sleep."

~Your bed or the other bed?~

"And you keep out of my head," he added to Schuldich, face growing red again. He wasn't about to admit that the suggestion was tempting to him for some reason.

Apparently Ran's wasn't the only mind the German had tapped into; Jei looked rather stunned and embarrassed by the unspoken suggestion. Rather than argue with either of them, he stood and walked to the other bed, sitting down and fixing his amber-eyed stare onto Ran for a moment.

"Hm?"

"Didn't notice it before," the Irish assassin murmured, eyes half-lidded as his adrenaline high suddenly plummeted. "Your hair's not as bright anymore. Used to look like blood to me, now it's more like wine." He smiled slightly as he lay down and closed his eyes. "I like it."

A few minutes later the only sound in the room was the breathing of the three redheads, Jei's even and deep as he fell into an exhausted slumber. The silence was broken by Schuldich:

"You should get some more rest yourself. You *are* still recovering, after all. I've gotta go call Br—Crawford and tell him what's going on. He'll probably want to come and check on Jei himself. It's that overprotective big brother kick of his; since Naggles left he's gone back to worrying over what the banshee over there's been up to."

"I'm not tired," Ran protested weakly, turning his eyes towards Jei's sleeping form on the other bed... and wondering why he wished the younger man *had* joined him in his bed.

"Do I have to shut you down, too?" Violet eyes widened and met amused blue-green. "Don't tell me you thought he would just go to sleep that easily after everything that went down tonight?"

The Japanese assassin simply shook his head and lay down, turning to glance towards the other bed once more before closing his eyes. "Probably not unless he bled out awhile."

Schuldich waited quietly until he was certain Ran was asleep, then carefully reached out to delve into the younger man's thoughts. He found what he was looking for surprisingly close to the surface; the same as when he'd lightly rifled through Jei's as he was easing him towards sleep.

"I was right," he murmured to himself. "Abyssinian's fascination runs back to the same point of origin as my little brother's. Huh, I'm so going to have to wave this in front of Brad.

"How did he fail to see this attraction between Fujimiya and Farfarello?"

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Owari Part the Fifth  
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*The now-deceased Siamese who will not be missed... this proven by Angel-chan killing him five times over in her review of the last chapter....

BTW, ani psi is simply the abbreviated form of animal psi, just in case anyone may have missed it and thought I was making up new words *sweatdrop* Also, I took some liberties with Sally's appearance as I've never heard any mention of what she looked like.

One last note: Crawforsburn *is* a town in Ireland. I learned about it about a year ago when I was doing a travel brochure project for Illustrator class. It's located in County Down, Ireland, and I think I may want to go visit it someday. Also, it just amuses me that the town's name is so close to Crawford's name....


	6. What the Oracle Saw

Title: Nobody's Listening  
Author: Ryoko 03  
Series: post-Weiss Kreuz Gluhen  
Rating: R; may go to NC-17 depending upon my muses' whims  
Status: In Progress 

All warnings and pairings noted in the previous chapter.

//blah// = thoughts  
~blah~ = telepathy

Note: This chapter contains a flashback sequence. Also, this chapter is jointly dedicated to Enigma (who simply adores Brad/Schu) and Angel-chan (who needed a bit of cheering up recently).

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Nobody's Listening  
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Schuldich quietly closed the door behind him and set off down the hall, pulling out his cell phone to call his lover (because one never knows if the person he's trying to make telepathic contact with is actually in close enough range for the connection to be solid, after all). Before he could even dial the first number, however, he heard a familiar voice in a room to his left:

"So you have a lot of respect for your instructor, then?"

"Oh, absolutely!" Himalaya exclaimed, a bright smile on her face in spite of the fact she was still wearing Siamese's blood on her duster. The red-haired German walked in as she added, "Mr. Dante is a wonderful man, so patient with Schatten!"

Brad Crawford nodded, the fluorescent lights reflecting off the glasses he once more sported (at his lover's request; for some reason the redhead enjoyed removing said lenses as part of foreplay). "Although I would tend to disagree with your assessment of Jei's patience, I can't argue that he is a remarkable young man. Of course," he smiled, "I may be biased as I lived and worked with him for three and a half years."

~Chatting up the teenagers, leibe?~ Schu sent to Brad, nudging the older man lightly as he stopped next to him. He grinned at the mental eye roll he got in reply and offered the blond Kritiker agent a wink. "Saw you out there, you've got good reflexes."

Himalaya smiled shyly and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Just doing what Mr. Dante trained me to do. It's nothing really."

"Well," Brad said, "I think that it's something. You're a credit to Kritiker, and I'm sure you instructor is very proud of you."

The blond shyly smiled again and murmured a quiet thank you and good-bye before slipping out of the room, one of her teammates appearing at the door to escort her back to headquarters. Within seconds after the young woman had left Brad Crawford found himself pressed back against the wall with a *very* friendly German attached to him.

"Should I be worried that you were chatting up the little one?"

"No," the older man replied, wrapping his arms around Schuldich's waist. "I was just finding out from our former Berserker's protégé the events of tonight since my vision was rather vague. Young Miss Caroline fought alongside her mentor."

The red-haired man pulled back a bit and blinked blue-green eyes at the American. "Excuse me? I just found out first-hand that bruder does *not* trust anyone of the female persuasion."

"True," Brad conceded, lightly running one hand down the younger man's back, "but in this case, he knows he can trust her instincts and judgment in battle because he personally trained her in what to do in any possible situation. Caroline—or rather Himalaya—sees 'Mr. Dante' as a mentor and brother, while our Prodigal Brother sees her as a protégé and the sister he lost as a young child. They're good for each other."

The American's last words made Schuldich grin, and he lightly nuzzled the man's neck as he purred, "Speaking of being good for each other, there's a tiny wrinkle that apparently your precognition skimmed over in regards to our dear little brother...."

Brad's glasses glinted again in the light, almost hiding the amused smirk that crossed his lips: "If you mean the fact that Fujimiya Ran and Jei Farfarello Dante are stumbling awkwardly into a relationship, I could have told you that... if you'd asked."

"... I really fucking hate you sometimes."

"I know. Love you too," the American replied, punctuating his words with a kiss to the tip of Schuldich's nose. It was an oddly endearing gesture, not to mention adorable, two words which most people would not associate with the man known as Oracle in Este. However, they *were* words that a certain telepath would attach to his lover, and this time was no exception. 

With a quiet sigh, the redhead lightly punched Brad in the shoulder: "Asshole. So," he continued with a purr, "exactly when did you find out that Farfie Jei and the red-haired Weiss kitten would become romantically entangled... even though right now they're still in that touchy-feely cautious stage...."

The look Brad gave him clearly said 'they're also currently in the hospital and not in any shape to go much beyond the cautious stage even if they were fully aware the attraction is mutual.'

"Well," he finally said after giving his lover a moment to gain the full effect of the look, "do you remember when Takatori Reiji became Prime Minister for a day?"

Schuldich chuckled softly: "Ja, and quite literally for a day! I would have paid good money to see the expression on his face when Abyssinian sliced and diced him...."

Brad smiled and shook his head slightly, then took a breath and began to speak.

{Flashback}

He had to admit, Farfarello was good at what he did. It made the Oracle glad that he'd conceded to the teen's whining and allowed him to come along on the assignment. Plus, this was a perfect opportunity to watch The Cat in action and to assess the Weiss swordsman's skills.

Brad smirked slightly as the pale teen let loose a cry worthy of Xena (which was where he'd gotten the idea in the first place, claiming that if he was supposed to be insane then damn it he was going to have fun with it) and launched himself towards the downed Abyssinian. He landed with feet planted on either side of the redhead and plunged his blade downward.

At that instant, the world tilted... at least, it did to Brad Crawford's perception.

The scene he saw with his mind's eye was similar to the one he'd witnessed before the vision hit, only... well, *not*. True, he was almost positive that the redhead was Abyssinian although his hair was cut in a different style and was more a wine color than the vivid red he knew, but it took an instant for him to recognize the rust-haired man crouching over him as Farfarello. And they weren't exactly in a life-or-death struggle; the scene he was witnessing had a more tender air about it.

As he watched, the wine-haired Abyssinian reached up and tucked a strand of rust-red hair behind an ear sporting only one small gold hoop. Farfarello offered a small smile and said something that made the other man laugh softly. The Weiss assassin then rested his hand on the back of Berserker's neck and gently pulled him into what Crawford could only imagine was one of the softest of kisses.

As quickly as it hit, the vision ended, the sound of Farfarello's blade striking the pavement drawing him back to the battle at hand. Abyssinian was now putting up more of a fight, and he caught the hint of a smile as the Irish teen was thrown past him.

Brad pushed the vision to the back of his mind for the moment; he could mull over it after Weiss had been dealt with... although his resolve to kill the redhead had wavered considerably since the start of the battle....

{End Flashback}

Schuldich blinked at his lover, then blinked again before a slow smile slid across his lips. "Ah, so despite the fact that you had Fujimiya's own weapon at his throat, you had no intention of killing him."

"I already knew when I picked up the katana that Persia's car was going to come barreling through the bushes before I broke the skin," Brad said with a slight shrug. "Jei was insistent on following; he told me on the drive 'home' that there was *something* about Abyssinian that intrigued him. I think, on some level, his ani psi self imprinted Fujimiya Ran as a non-threat and...." The man trailed off, running a hand through his slightly-ruffled silver hair (cut once more in the style his lover preferred; if this kept up he'd be dying it black again by the time he reached his thirty-fourth birthday).

The telepath frowned slightly, reaching up to remove Brad's glasses and look him straight in the eye. "A non-threat *and*?" he said pointedly.

Brad shook his head and smiled warmly, tightening his hold around Schu. "I think you can guess. You *have* seen how Jei acts with him, correct? Protective and obsessive over his physical well-being to the point of ignoring his *own* physical needs?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't think he'd slept in three days until I shut him down an hour ago."

"Exactly. And we *both* know how close to the surface The Cat is once he wakes up. Or rather"—here the American just had to grin a bit wickedly—"The Kitten."

Schuldich stared at Brad for a moment before he started laughing quietly. "Oh, man, I *so* want to be in the room when Farfie wakes up acting all kittenish! I bet he'll crawl into Fujimiya's lap and purr!"

The Oracle only smiled and ruffled his lover's hair. After all, he already knew what was going to happen when the two younger men awoke.

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Owari Part the Sixth  
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Schatten = Shadow (German); in other words, the team trained by Tortoiseshell for Kritiker New York under Persia's orders. It's not really important, but I thought I'd mention them since they're likely to never be seen again once the action moves back to Japan =^_^=

Also, in case anyone missed it, the scene I described briefly in the flashback is from episode 13 of the original series. Anyone who doesn't remember the tableau of Farfarello straddling Aya with his blade poised to strike with a smirking Crawford in the background, let me know and I'll direct you to the screen grab that Angel-chan was nice enough to snag for me =^_^=  



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